Brownfield Redevelopment Planning and Design

Working with public and private sector clients, Geosyntec provides award-winning redevelopment strategies for brownfield sites worldwide. From site identification, investigation, and remediation to design, permitting, and construction management, we provide the services necessary to redevelop an environmentally impacted property to an end use that meets environmental stewardship, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder needs. We solve our clients' brownfield redevelopment challenges using appropriate and efficient environmental remediation approaches as well as geotechnical engineering solutions.

Geosyntec approaches each brownfield site individually by tailoring investigations, risk assessments, and remediation approaches to the clients' planned end use. We work with stakeholders including regulators, developers, and insurance providers to realize the full economic and social value of their site and develop solutions amenable to all parties for any challenges that arise as development progresses. We provide stakeholders with start-to-finish consistency and reassurance that the environmental elements of development are being managed by one firm because of our expertise in regulations, risk assessment, soil and groundwater remediation, soil vapor mitigation, geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering, and solid waste and environmental management.

Specialized Experience with Brownfield Sites

Site Assessments: Our environmental management specialists perform site evaluations ranging from informal site walks and/or document reviews to formal Phase I due-diligence services in accordance with ASTM E 1527-05. If necessary, we provide follow up with Phase II site investigations.

Risk Assessments: Geosyntec's in-house toxicologists and risk assessment specialists work with developers to reduce the cost of redevelopment using three key strategies: 1) optimized site layout to separate receptors from environmental impacts, 2) use of engineering controls to manage contamination in place rather than costlier and more extensive removal or remedial measures, and 3) identify building or landscaping design features that provide cost-effective risk mitigation (e.g., aerated floors, grade-level parking, surface covers, etc.).

Geoenvironmental Engineering: Our geoenvironmental and geotechnical engineers develop design approaches to stabilize, contain, and control conditions beneath foundations to allow construction of buildings, parking lots, or other developed surfaces to meet end-use goals on previously unusable or unstable ground.

Vapor Mitigation: Geosyntec engineers mitigate solvent, petroleum, and methane vapors using a wide range of time-tested and innovative passive and active technologies, including traditional vapor barriers, our own patented sub-slab vapor venting system, and low-cost, highly efficient aerated floors. We effectively disrupt the exposure route for indoor air, reducing potential hazards and allowing building development over impacted areas of the site. Our site-specific designs work hand-in-hand with the development team's foundation and architectural design elements. Geosyntec is performing leading research for the U.S. Department of Defense on vapor mitigation optimization.

Green Energy Solutions: Our engineers assess both the engineering and regulatory feasibility of green energy development on impacted sites. We provide permitting services, preliminary design, and site improvement recommendations to support wind and solar energy development.

Geosyntec's practitioners are advancing the state of the practice by writing the guidance documentation, teaching courses, and acquiring design patents that enable brownfield redevelopment. We authored or co-authored vapor intrusion guidance documents issued by several industry groups and State agencies, and have been members of the U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) expert panel on vapor intrusion since its inception in 2000.

Geosyntec personnel have been key members of both Interstate Technical Regulatory Council (ITRC) working groups on vapor intrusion, and invited instructors for the classroom and web-based training that included thousands of regulators and other stakeholders. Our practitioners also wrote the guidance document on evaluating, optimizing, or ending post-closure care at impacted sites, including brownfield sites, and are working with regulators to incorporate our approaches into regulations.

Geosyntec is a consulting and engineering firm that works with private and public sector clients to address new ventures and complex problems involving our environment, natural resources, and civil infrastructure.